Brexit could derail funding of Jersey’s new multi-million pound hospital

Thursday 13 April 2017

A scrutiny panel investigating how the building of a new multi-million pound hospital is going to be funded says the States need to consider how events such as Brexit could affect the Island’s finances.

Their report says: “We find ourselves in a period of high levels of uncertainty both on the European and Global stages… How this will resolve itself, and how this will impact on the Island and its ability to continue to service debt out of reserves, without depleting those reserves entirely, remains to be seen.”

This worries the scrutiny panel because the Council of Ministers wants to borrow money to cover the estimated £400million pound bill, and to pay off the loan by using the interest gained from the Strategic Reserve – the so-called ‘Rainy Day Fund’. The panel says outside influences might mean the fund doesn’t perform as well as it has in the past.

Panel Chairman, Deputy John Le Fondré, says: “We have released our report in time to give States members the ability to review our conclusions, before [next Tuesday’s] debate. This report, in conjunction with our 4 April Amendment, gives members an important opportunity to decide which funding mechanism is in the best interest of the Island and future generations in this time of economic and external political uncertainty. ”